Jim Harris came from humble beginnings in Mississippi, picking cotton and driving trucks to make ends meet, but he was eventually transformed into an Ugandan Giant. As Kamala, Harris competed in the WWF during their glory days and squared off against greats like Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant. Harris recently took off the face paint and sat down with us to share some stories.
Where are you originally from and what was your childhood like? What made you decide to get into wrestling? And more specifically, how did one go about becoming a professional wrestler back in the day? I was with a friend of mine and I told him after I couldn't find a job that I should start doing wrestling, but I said it as a joke. He took me to Bobo Brazil's house, but Bobo wasn't home, so he took me to Bobo's friend. That's how I started training. I just wouldn't back out of it after I had said it. What was your early wrestling career like? What was your character then? What was your persona? How was the Kamala character created? After a while, it was taking so long for my stuff to get here, so I went to Memphis to see a friend of mine, the late Dream Machine, because he could always get a hold of wrestling gear. So I went to see him and that's when I ran up on Lawler and the local promoter, Jerry Jarrett, and they asked me if I'd do a gimmick for them. I said, "Yeah, I'd be glad to, but my ankle is broke." They asked me to leave because they didn't want the fans to see me. I went home, they called me that Wednesday and that's when we put together the Kamala gimmick. I've got to give 99 percent of the credit to Jerry Lawler. How did you feel about the character early on? You definitely committed to it and we think that's what people responded to.
The Kamala gimmick was so good they were selling out everywhere that I would go. When you are a draw like that, word gets around. I was working with Andre the Giant a lot then and Andre told me that Vince McMahon was interested in me coming to, we all called it "New York," and I told him yeah. But this was Vince McMahon Sr. I never got to meet him though; he died before I came there in 84. What was it like wrestling for the WWF during its most popular era? What are some of your favorite moments? Who were your favorite people to work with? Was there anyone you wanted to wrestle against but never got the chance to? What caused you to stop wrestling on a regular basis? |
Do you still wrestle? We know you have made a few surprise appearances in the WWE, but how often do you get back into the ring? I'm booked most weekends in places like New York, Boston, all up in the New England area. I signed a Legend contract with the WWE to make those wrestling figures, so I make appearances with the WWE once in a while. You recently did an angle on Raw with Umaga, who is in some ways very similar to Kamala. What was it like working with him? What made you agree to be a part of that angle? It was disappointing the way they presented it. It seems like they could have done more with you since the characters are so similar. What do you think of wrestling today? In your opinion, how has wrestling changed or evolved since you broke into the business? Do you follow wrestling these days? What do you do these days? Do you have a regular job? How often are you recognized in your everyday life? Tell us something most people don't know about you. We've got one last thing for you here. We are going to do a word association. We'll just throw out a name and tell us the first thing that comes to your mind. The World Wrestling Federation. Wrestlemania. Jake "The Snake" Roberts. Hulk Hogan. Vince McMahon. Kamala. Jim Harris. The future.
© 2007 Joel Murphy, All rights reserved. http://www.hobotrashcan.com/
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Kamala approaches the ring in March 1993 in Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens. -- Mark O'Neill, Toronto Sun files |
Hi Fans,
I'm happy to say Mr. Harris is my friend. He is such a good man, and full of
stories about the Old Mid-South days!
The people at SLAM! Wrestling beat me to an interview with him, So. I'm glad
they did, now many can read about
my friend James Harris. I'll post my Interviews with Mr. Harris soon. The way
I like, where you can hear him talk!Thanks,
Buddy Huggins
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Saturday, July 7, 2001
Kamala and Kim Chee in 1986. |
Eddie Creatchman and Kamala. |
Kamala as a face working against Irwin R. Shyster (Mike Rotunda) in March 1993 in Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens. -- Mark O'Neill, Toronto Sun files |
In the weeks following the match, an angle was played out where Kamala
would be mistreated by Kimchee and manager Harvey Whippleman. Eventually, Kamala
would turn on them and align himself with Reverend Slick (Kenneth Johnson) who
would attempt to civilize the once-untamable Ugandan Giant. Kamala's ring mannerisms
changed greatly, and this is especially evident on the commercial videotape
"Invasion of the Bodyslammers" where he appears in a bizarre match with Doink
the Clown, a battle royal and is taught how to bowl. Harris was displeased about
the face turn, but realized he truly had no say in the matter if he wanted to
continue working with the WWF.
"It was all done by Vince," he said. "Vince would call me and ask me what
I'd like to change and what I'd like to do. The only thing you could say is
'yes, I'll do it,' because if you said no, then you're fired anyway. So we didn't
have much of choice. I didn't like it at all, especially when they turned me
babyface," he said. "I didn't like it but I couldn't leave because the little
money I was making, Vince was taking 15 per cent of it out. He told me if I
happened to leave before the contract was up, my money was gone. I don't know
if they did that to anybody else back then or not."
Despite the mistreatment by the WWF, Harris does not have any regrets.
"No, as far as being a part of the biggest organization in the world,
I'm proud to tell people I worked for the WWF," he said. "The only regrets I
have is that I didn't get paid. Most of the guys I worked with throughout my
run with the WWF are all wealthy guys. They're all good guys, they're doing
good. I'm the only one who had to file bankruptcy. I have a home, my home is
paid for, I did pay cash for it but it didn't come through the WWF. It came
through Bill Watts. I ended up having to drive a truck and all that kind of
stuff. I've never been a drunk or a drug user or
have any bad habits, so I didn't throw any money away. I just didn't make any."